An autonomous vehicle is a vehicle that is capable of sensing its environment and navigating with little or no user input. It does so by using sensing devices such as radar, lidar, image sensors, and the like. Autonomous vehicles further use information from global positioning systems (GPS) technology, navigation systems, vehicle-to-vehicle communication, vehicle-to-infrastructure technology, and/or drive-by-wire systems to navigate the vehicle.
While recent years have seen significant advancements in navigation systems, such systems might still be improved in a number of respects. For example, autonomous vehicles often encounter traffic related objects along a route to a planned destination. It would be advantageous to detect and map the presence of traffic related objects to assist in, among other things, path planning and future destination planning.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide systems and methods for detecting, classifying, and mapping traffic related objects in autonomous vehicles. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.